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UMass Celebrates Ellsberg Visit and Acquisition of His Historic Papers
Daniel Ellsberg, one of the nation’s foremost political activists and whistleblowers, is participating in a series of events that celebrate the recent acquisition of his personal papers by the UMass Amherst Libraries. Ellsberg’s visit to Massachusetts included a livestreamed conversation from the WGBH studios in Boston with Charles Sennott ’84 on Oct. 23, and will include events in the coming week hosted by the Du Bois Library and the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI).
Ellsberg and his wife, Patricia, were warmly received at WGBH by a studio audience that included a number of UMass Amherst alumni and featured welcoming remarks by Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy and Jon Abbott, president and CEO of WGBH.
The Friends of the Libraries' 21st Annual Fall Reception will host Ellsberg as its featured speaker on Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 6 p.m. in the Campus Center Auditorium. Ellsberg has been named a Distinguished Researcher at the Du Bois Library. Space is limited, so RSVPs are requested by Monday, Oct. 28. For more information, contact the Office of External Relations and University Events at events@umass.eduor 413-577-1101. The library event will also be livestreamed.
PERI Events
Ellsberg will also be featured in two PERI events during his visit to campus. He will visit in his role as a PERI Distinguished Research Fellow.
On Monday, Oct. 28, starting at 5:30 p.m. in Gordon Hall, the public is invited to view the documentary, “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.” Following the documentary, Ellsberg and Gar Alperovitz will participate in a panel discussion. This will be the first time Ellsberg and Alperovitz have appeared publicly to discuss their Pentagon Papers experiences. Alperovitz, a distinguished historian and political economist, acted as a courier to deliver copies of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 to numerous U.S. newspapers in defiance of a Justice Department order and FBI manhunt. Alperovitz’s work with Ellsberg first became public knowledge only in 2018, with the publication of a “New Yorker” article.
Light dinner will be served at 5:30 pm in the second floor Gordon Hall atrium. The documentary screening and panel discussion will follow in the third-floor conference room. No RSVP is required, but please note that space is limited. The panel discussion will be live streamed and recorded for those who can't attend in person.
On Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 4 p.m., Ellsberg will present a lecture titled, “The Dollar Auction, Unendable Wars and Gambling with Catastrophe.” The event will be held in the third-floor conference room of Gordon Hall. A reception will follow. The talk is free and open to the public.
Ellsberg received his Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University in 1962 and published several seminal papers in the areas of decision theory and behavioral economics. Working as a high-level U.S. government war planner during the Vietnam War, Ellsberg risked a lifetime in prison to expose what became known as the Pentagon Papers, an act which was critical in strengthening the anti-war movement. At PERI, Ellsberg will work in the areas of peace economics and the Green New Deal.